Venezuela's conservative opposition party is stepping up their efforts to run socialist President Nicolas Maduro out of office.

The AFP reports Henry Ramos Allup, the opposition speaker for Venezuela’s National Assembly, expressed his feeling that letting Maduro stay in office would be a mistake.

"Someone said we should let the government finish its term so it can stew in its own juice,” he said. “That would be irresponsible."

Maduro's authority to carry out policy is set to run until 2019.

"I don't want this to last three more years, going from bad to worse," Ramos said. "If you can treat an illness before it kills you, then you obviously apply the treatment."

Ramos assured the media that Maduro wound not reach the end of his term.

As the AFP reports, one of the ways the opposition is trying to oust Maduro is by investigating rumors that the president is in fact Colombian. If true, this would automatically disqualify Maduro from office.

Since the opposition party took majority control of the National Assembly in January, Venezuela has been in a political deadlock, caught between Maduro’s progressive policies and the right wing’s desire for immediate political reform.

Henrique Capriles, another opposition leader, has called for Maduro to leave office as well.

"Either a solution is found here or Venezuelans must consider the way to achieve change," Capriles said. "The time has come for a recall referendum or a constitutional amendment."

Maduro hopes to heal his nation’s economy by persuading oil nations to cut down their production. As Bloomberg reports, Venezuela’s Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino is currently trying to persuade Russia and Saudi Arabia to decrease their oil production as a glut in their supply has negatively effected the oil market for Venezuela.

The Washington Post reports oil production in Venezuela went down 25 percent between 1999 and 2013.

Related